High-Frequency GRE Words — Set 11

Ostentatious — showy, designed to impress

Paradox — a seemingly contradictory statement that may be true

Parsimonious — extremely frugal, stingy

Pedantic — excessively concerned with minor details or rules

Perfunctory — done without care or interest, routine

Pernicious — causing great harm, deadly

Perspicacious — having keen mental perception, sharp

Phlegmatic — calm, unemotional, sluggish

Pithy — brief and meaningful, concise

Placate — to calm, soothe, make less angry

Tone words: Pedantic, pithy, and laconic all describe communication styles. Pedantic = overly detailed. Pithy = perfectly concise. Laconic = using almost no words. These distinctions matter on the GRE.

Reference:

Wikipedia: GRE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Record_Examinations